While major dog attacks are quite rare, dog bites are fairly common. The CDC estimates that about 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year. We could quibble out the methodology they use to get this number (It is suspect), the point is, bites are pretty common. The VAST majority of these bites are nothing more than small bruises or cuts that heal quickly without incident.

But what differentiates a small bite from a major attack?

When we talk about why dogs bite and attack, often the first topic that comes up is dog socialization. Well trained, socialized and adjusted dogs are much lessly likely to suffer from different forms of aggression - -like fear aggression and severe possession aggression -- than dogs that aren't trained and socialized. So a dog that is kept as an indoor family pet that is around the family and strangers regularly, are much less likely to exhibit aggressive behaviors than dogs that don't spend much time around people and strangers.

But it doesn't stop there.

There is a second component to a bite behavior that may be more telling than even socialization: bite inhibition. While socialization is important to determine whether or not your dog is likely to bite in a given situation, bite inhibition is important in determining how severe a bite will be if and when it happens.

Legendary dog trainer Ian Dunbar says this about bite inhibition:

"Without a doubt, teaching bite inhibition is the single most important item on the educational agenda of any pup....It is as unrealistic to expect dogs never to be frightened or annoyed by people as it is to expect people never to frighten or annoy each other. However, just as it is reasonable to expect people to resolve their disagreements without physical violence, it is both realistic and perfectly feasible to teach dogs never to physically harm a person when scared or provoked."

Because dogs don't have hands, much of their "touch" communication is done through their mouth. If they want someone to leave them alone (because they're fearful or injured) and the person ignores their body language cues and audio cues (like growling) then a bite may be a dog's next option (where a human might "push" someone away). Or, for example, a child accidentally steps on a dog's tail, or hugs too tightly and injures the dog, a dog may react with a bite to end the pain. The difference between this being a "nip" or a major bite is determined by the dog' bite inhibition -- ie, their ability to control the power of their bite.

Anyone who has ever spent much time at all around puppies knows one thing -- they bite. A lot. Puppies use their mouths a lot in the playing process with their littermates about bite-inhibition. If they bite too hard, their littermate may yelp and quit playing with them, which will teach them that that bite was too hard. Through this interaction, dogs will develop a sense of bite inhibition that will allow them to "bite" but control the bite as to not be harmful. Dogs with good bite inhibition may use their mouths while playing, or when dealing with an unruly puppy playmate, but choose to not use full bite force in the process. And this is a good thing.

In the nature, puppies learn bite inhibition from their mothers and litermates. While this is often best way for puppies to learn, it can also be done with frequent playgroups with other young dogs. However, if all of that is not an option, bit inhibition can be taught at home when dogs are interacting with the humans simply by playing and interacting with your dog, and when your dog bites too hard, making a "yelp" or "ouch" sound and taking the play thing (in this case you) away. The dog will quickly learn that biting too hard causes him to lose what he wants most -- someone to play with. Remember -- teaching your puppy to bite so it no longer hurts is the first step -- then you can begin teaching your puppy not to bite at all.

Most experts say that bite inhibition is primarily learned by the age of 18 weeks. So it should be no surprise then if someone buys a 6 week old puppy, plops thepuppy on a chain in the back yard for the next 2 years of its life, and the dog all of a sudden suffers from poor socialization AND poor bite inhibition -- which is a pretty bad combination - and "suddenly" attacks someone. It was actually the perfect recipe for a major attack....if people know anything about canine behavior. This is why I think it's significant that of the 22 people over the age of 1 that were killed by singular dogs last year, nine of the dogs showed signs of significant chaining involved in their keeping.

The more we know about canine behavior, the more we can make steps to improve the way dogs are kept, and improve the safety of them in society. Ignoring behavioral experts in this area is just not using sound judgment. If we want to make society "safer" when it comes to dogs (and dogs are incredibly safe), we must focus on things that are primary motivating forces on undesirable behavior.

Some great resources on bite inhibition -- and how you can train your dog to have it:

January 05, 2010

This is my least favorite post I do every year because I don't like dwelling on the negative stuff, but because there is a lot of misleading information out there on this topic that I feel like having all of the attacks in a central location will at least allow people to have easy access to the actual data.

Before I get into the information, there are a couple of things that I want to note:

1) Fatal incidents are extremely rare. With about 75 million dogs in the US, and 32 fatal dog attacks each year, they are such a statistically anomaly that decisions on "breed" aggression should not be based on such rare incidents. By comparison, the US Population is 300 million (4x the dog population) and saw over 16,000 murders (500x the number of dog-related deaths). If only humans could be close to as safe as dogs.

2) When you look at fatal incidents, the circumstances surrounding them usually follow a couple of different criteria that will become obvious when you read. It is my hope that by seeing the circumstances behind the attacks we can eliminate many future attacks so these tragedies can be avoided.

3) If people track bite information only by breed, without tracking the information by circumstances, the only correlation they can come up with for attacks is by breed and have missed the most obvious conclusion.

4) The vast majority of my data, including breed ID, comes from media sources, so they come with the inherent ID issues that come from visual breed identification and from media mis-reporting.

5) The difference in media exposure for the different breeds of dogs is extremely notable.

So with that, here are the years attacks. The attacks are listed chronologically, -- and links go to my original writeup.

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Chyenne Peppers- 5 years old - Thomasville, GA - was playing in the backyard alone with 3 'pit bulls' who were all chained in the backyard. One of the dogs was pregnant. The dogs broke their chains and attacked the victim. The incident happened in an area where people are 50% more likely to be living below the poverty line than the national average.

Alex Angulo- 4 years old - Chicago, IL - the boy was left alone in the back yard with 3 dogs while the father ran a snowblower out front. The dog that was blamed for the attack was a Rottweiler, although there were two other dogs on the property. The dogs appear to have been outside-only dogs.

Brooklynn Milburn- 3 years old - Ft. Worth, TX - Was playing in the back yard by herself and reportedly climbed through a hole in the fence into a neighbor's back yard where the neighbor's Rottweiler attacked her. The story ran in 170+ media outlets across the country.

Brianna Nicol Shanor- 8 years old - Beaver County, PA - The girl was staying at some friends' property and was attacked and killed by a "Rottweiler Mix" that was one of of several dogs on the property that were chained to an old camping trailer on the property. The attack occurred in an area with a very significant poverty issue.

Olivia Rozek- 3 weeks old - Bourbonnais, IL - the infant was apparently left alone in a bedroom and the family's Husky pulled the baby from the bed and into the hallway - -the child died from the injuries. The Story was reported in only 1 media outlet.

Unnamed - 2 weeks old - Mesa, AZ - the mother left the child alone to go to the restroom and while the mother was away, the family's Chow Chow bit the child...killing her. This story ran on only a couple of local news stations.

Hill A. Williams Jr - 38 years old - Rancho Mirage, CA - was attacked by two Bull Mastiffs. Authorities reported that the man may have been trying to separate the dogs who may have been breeding at the time and was attacked while trying to separate them.

Dustin Elija Fauk-ner - 3 years old - Wayne County, GA - The boy was out with his 5 year old sister when the neighbor's Husky broke its chain and attacked the small boy. This story ran in only one local newspaper.

Tyson Miller- 18 months old - Luling, TX - The boy woke up and wandered outside unsupervised at 12:30 in the afternoon while the rest of the family slept and up to a pregnant 'pit bull' that lived on a chain behind the home. The boy was attacked and killed by the dog and the boy's mother was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the case. Luling, TX is a small community with nearly double the national poverty rate. The story ran on more than two dozen news sources.

Izaiah Cox- 7 months old - San Antonio, TX - The young boy was being cared for by his grandmother who left the child alone when she went to the kitchen to get the infant some food. The boy was then attacked by two 'pit bulls' that lived in the home and were left alone with the boy. The grandmother later got indicted because the dogs had apparently attacked a different grandchild a couple of years prior. This particular zip code in San Antonio has a poverty level that is more than triple the national average with nearly 40% of the population living below the poverty line. The story was picked up by over 250 news outlets.

Michael Landry- 4 years old - Morganza, LA - Three Boxers that were owned by the neighbor got loose from their kennels while the kennels were being cleaned and attacked and killed the young boy. The poverty level in Morganza is 50% higher than the national average. The story was picked up by 3 local news sources.

Gordon Lykins- 48 - Winterhaven, AZ - The man was attacked by 11 "mixed breed" dogs that were roaming at large as Mr. Lykins took a walk along the canals in Arizona.

David Whiteneck, Jr - Adult - Dwight Township, MI - The man was attacked by three dogs that were described as Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler crosses. The story was picked up by only a half dozen local news sources.

Leonard Lovejoy, JR- 11 months old - Eastpoint, MI - The boy was reportedly in bed with his parents when the family's dog - a 'pit bull mix' - attack the child. The dog had apparently shown aggression to strangers before. The story was picked up in over 300 media sources.

Barbara Chambers - 60 years old - Garland, TX - Ms. Chambers was attacked by her Great Dane. The dog was apparently an award-winning show dog, but had apparently been in fights before with her other dog, a standard Poodle. Friends of Ms. Chambers have speculated that the two dogs may have gotten into a fight and she had gotten in the middle of the fight. While a couple of media outlets covered the initial attack, none reported her actual death a few days later.

Gabrial Mandrell - 3 years old - Johnson City, IL - The parents apparently put the boy in bed and went into another room. The boy then knocked out a window screen and went out into the yard carrying a stuffed animal. The boy was then attacked by at least one of three dogs in the yard -- 2 pit bull mixes and 1 Collie mix- at least one of which was chained to a tree. The story was covered by 27 news sources.

Justin Clinton- 10 years old - Leverett's Chapel, TX - Was attacked by a neighbor's two "pit bulls" that jumped over a 3 foot tall fence that was being used to "contain" the dogs. The story ran in hundreds of news sources from around the country, including national media like USA Today.

Isreal Pope, Jr- 96 years old - Pickensville, AL - Pope was out for a walk and was possibly attacked by a pack of wild dogs -- although it is not 100% clear if Pope was attacked by the dogs before or after he died -- and officials were not sure if they would ever know. For the purposes of this report, I've included it as a dog bite fatality. Pickensville is a small community in Alabama with a poverty level 3x the national rate.

Carter Ridge Delaney- 20 years old - Leesburg, VA - Police think that Delaney's brother's "pit bull type" dog got inside (it was usually kept outdoors) and attacked his mother's Pug -- and that Delaney was injured (and killed) in an effort to protect the smaller dog. This story ran in 54 media outlets.

Lothar Karl Schweder (77) and Sherri Schweder (65) - Georgia - The couple went out for a walk to find their dog that had gotten loose and were apparently attacked by a group of 16 feral mongrel dogs that were badly malnourished and "very aggressive" toward humans.

Unnamed - 3 days old - Rio, WV - Apparently the mother saw the two family dogs "acting strangely" looking at the newborn boy and attempted to move the German Shepherd away from the infant and then the "pit bull" pulled the child off the bed....killing him.

Kathleen Doyle- 90 years old - Phoenix, AZ - Was attacked by an American Bulldog that got loose from its back yard and she died 6 days later. The attack was covered in only one media outlet.

Jasmine Dean - 23 months - Orange County, VA - The mother apparently became preoccupied while the young girl somehow got out of the house and wander up to a neighbor's 'pit bull' that was chained up in the back yard of their home. She was attacked by the dog and died.

Colton Smith- 17 months old - Merced County, CA - The young boy was staying at his babysitter's house when the sitter left him alone outside "for just a few moments" with the sitter's parent's dog who was staying with her temporarily. The dog was officially declared to be a pit bull/akita mix -- although it was called just a 'pit bull mix" in the majority of the 400 media outlets that covered the story.

Matthew Clayton Hurt- 2 years old - Prescott, AR - The toddler and his three year old brother were staying at their babysitter's house and wandered four blocks away. The younger child followed a little puppy into the back yard of a house four blocks away and ended up getting attacked by a chained up 'pit bull' that resided in the back yard. Prescott is a small town in in rural Arkansas with 1/3 of the population living below the poverty level -- which is 3x the national average (and 2x the state average). Prescott passed a breed ban only days after the boy's death.

Destiny Marie Knox - 16 months old - New Albany, MS - The child was staying at a babysitter's house when one of the five 'pit bulls' that was usually kept chained in the yard got free, got into the house and attacked the young girl. 20% of the people who live in New Albany live below the poverty line -- 66% higher than the national average.

Karen Gillespie - 53 years old - White Mills, KY - Gillespie went out to take pictures of a one room school house in the country when she was attacked by a White Boxer that was owned by Howard Miller. The dog had apparently attacked a US Census Worker who had come by the Miller's home earlier this year. The story was covered in 8 newspaper outlets.

Rosie Humphries- 85 years old - Flora, IL - Ms. Humphries was out walking her dog when a neighbor's 'pit bull' broke free from its collar and attack Humphries' dog and killed Humphries in the process. The dog was chained up in the yard using a massive log chain. The event was reported in 22 news outlets.

Lowell Bowden- 70 years old - Rural Lindside, WV - Bowden was out for a walk in the in the rural hills of the county when hunters found him getting attacked by a pack of four or five dogs that were roaming at large and were described as "pit bulls".

Dallas Walter(s)- 20 months old - New Port Richey, FL - Reports on this are so contradictory, but the majority of the sources indicate that the boy was staying with his family in his Great-Aunt's home when the Great Aunt's dog, a Rottweiler/Lab mix which was usually kept chained outside, got inside and apparently attacked the boy who was holding a cookie. The dog was new to the family and had lived with them for only 2 weeks.

Theresa An Ellerman - 49 years old - Norfolk, VA - Was bitten by an Alaskan Malamute owned by some friends she was visiting. The dog bit her in the neck and apparently due to quick and severe swelling, the woman lost the ability to breath quickly and died shortly after.

Liam Perk- 2 years old - Cape Coral, FL - The boy was apparently bitten by one of the family's two pet Weimaraners snapped at the boy and bit him in the neck and the boy died less than an hour later.

-- of the 5 incidents that were covered by 150 media sources or more, 2 involved 'pit bulls', 1 involved a Rottweiler, 1 involved a pit bull/akita mix (that was widely reported as a 'pit bull mix') and 1 involved a Weimaraner.

-- There were 7 incidents that were covered by fewer than 6 media outlets, the breeds involved were Husky, Chow Chow, Husky, Boxers, Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler mixes and a Great Dane.

Yes, apparently all attacks are not created equally in the eyes of the media.

The attacks fall into roughly 4 categories:

1) Children under 1 year of age: 5 fatalities -- 3 of the children were less than 3 weeks old. 3 different breeds of dogs were involved. Introducing a child into a family with a dog can be tricky, and takes a little dedication by the owners/parents. This is why I recommend any newly expecting parent to read sites dedicated to dog training with young children. I interviewedthe founder of one such organization, Jennifer Shyrock of Dogs & Storks earlier this year and this is a great first source for expecting parents who own dogs.

2) Children 1 year to 5 years -- I've chosen this division because this is roughly the area where children become mobile, yet are still too young to be truly able to deal with most situations unsupervised. 13 of the fatalities fell into this category -- 8 different breeds were involved. In 9 of the attacks, the child was left unsupervised -- in 4 of those, the child left the house under their own accord. Chaining appears to have played a role in 8 of the 13 attacks (I'll talk a little bit more about this in a separate post later in the week).

3) Older Children - 5-15 years of age - There were two attacks here, two different breeds of dogs involved. Chaining was a factor in one of the two attacks.

4) Adults - 12 victims here, in 11 different incidences. Nine different breeds of dogs involved. In 5 of the cases (6 victims), victims were attacked by a pack of dogs -- with anywhere from 3 to 16 dogs being involved. Most of these cases involved wild or feral dogs. In two of the cases, the victim got in the middle of two other dogs either fighting or breeding and was attacked. Four cases involved individual dogs (with four different breeds involved). Six of the victims were over the age of 65, with 3 of them being over the age of 85.

It appears that major improvements could be made in preventing these attacks if we did the following:

1) Worked harder to educate new parents how to socialize their pets with newborn children.

2) Emphasized supervising younger children when they interact with dogs.

3) End the process of leaving dogs chained 24/7 as their primary or sole form of containment.

4) Educate owners that early signs of aggression should be dealt with through training and socialization and not avoided. Many of the dogs involved had previously shown signs of aggression.

December 26, 2009

First of all, it sounds like the community is rallying around the boy's family -- setting up a bank account for donations. Great job by the community.

Secondly, the article does a great job of *gasp* trying to educate people on child/dog interactions to help prevent other tragedies. Even though the specifics behind why the Weimaraner attacked the young boy aren't known, the newspaper's willingness to interview local canine experts and dog trainers in their community for information is more than welcome.

Here's the advice:

From Patrick Logue, an advanced dog behavioral therapist and trainer:

"Dogs use body language and vocal tones to communicate," he said. "You want to make sure kids don't play too rough with a dog, even if they're having a good time. "A dog might nip at a child even if it's playing because that's how a dog communicates."

From Alice Roberts, a member of the Dog Obedience Club of Lee County:

"I think one of the main tips with very small children is they should always be under supervision when there is a dog around," she said. "It's a tragic thing that happened this past week, even gentle dogs should be attended to when there are small children around."

Logue also advised against allowing a young child to discipline a dog and said that children should not pull on a dog's collar, ears or tail. Young children shouls also not be allowed to feed or walk a dog without adult supervision, nor should they pet a stranger's dog without first asking permission.

All of this is great advice. My hope is that more and more newspapers will take this approach to covering major dog attacks so that we can continue to educate parents/dog owners on ways to prevent future attacks -- even when other breeds of dogs are involved.

December 23, 2009

A two year old boy, Liam Perk, died yesterday after being attacked by one of the family's two pet Weimaraners. The eight year old male, which by all reports was well cared for and an indoor dog, bit the young boy in the neck -- the boy died less than an hour later.

The AP Wire story, which unfortunately is what most newspapers ran, says the dog attacked the boy "without any apparent provocation". But that's really not how dogs work -- they almost never "just snap" and or bite for no reason.

"Animals will react in a fight or flight response depending on the circumstances," said Adam Leath, Chief of Lee County Animal Services.

"Kids play with dogs and pull tails and ears and dogs don't like it," said Dr. Robert South, epidemiologist with the Lee County Health Department. "It really comes down to the ability of the owners to have a well-trained dog and to teach children to be appropriately cautious around animals."

If more information becomes available on this story I will certainly post it....although the family has understandably requested privacy during their time of mourning.

My heart goes out to the family of Liam Perk -- and I hope others may be able to eventually learn from their tragedy.

A 20 month old boy, Dallas Walter (or Walters), was attacked and killed by a dog owned by his great-great aunt & uncle (Lisa and Preston Evans) earlier this week. All of the circumstances surrounding the attack remain a little unclear.

The reports on the story are a bit contradictory...even to the point that the boy's name is unclear.

According to the majority of the reports, the boy was a visitor in his great-great -Aunt's home. The Evans' got the dog, described as a "Rottweiler" in many reports, and a "Rottweiler-Lab mix" in others, two months ago.

The dog was apparently "Supposed to be chained up in the back yard", but somehow got into the home when the family opened up the back door to let in some air. Most of the reports note that the child may have had a cookie in his hand, and dropped the cookie, and the dog attacked the boy when he tried to get the cookie -- although at least one news source (that gets the victim's name wrong in the story) -- says the boy was eating potato salad.

The boy's father, noted that he thought the dog may have been unable to reach his food bowl in the back yard, and thus, because the dog was deprived, his son became prey.

The dog was new to the family -- and obviously, new to the victim who was visiting. The dog apparently lived its life contained on a chain in the back yard (as evidenced by the feeding on the chain -- which makes it less of a temporary set up). So we have a dog that is chained -- so likely under-socialized in general - -that isn't well socialized with its own family, let alone the visiting family members. And, there was likely basic food aggression (which is fairly common across all breeds of dogs) involved.

These incidents are highly preventable - but ONLY if we talk about the real issues behind the attacks -- like socialization and how we keep our dogs. Instead, we have a tragic case that people seem content not to learn from. Dogs don't just "snap", but attacks like this are usually a combination of events that lead to a "perfect storm" for disaster.

My heart goes out to the family in this incident. What a tragic way to spend the holidays.

The attack fits into what a major attack would look like: a pack of dogs that are roaming free in a secluded area that attack a singular, elderly victim. The area where Lindside is located is in the 24951 zip code. The entire area has a population of only 1700 people -- nearly 20% of whom live below the poverty line.

In a study from out of Spain a few years ago, it found that rural areas tend to be more susceptable to major attacks because of the frequency of packs of at-large dogs.

The worst part of this story may be that the family may not see much in the way of justice for this attack. The owners of the dogs were identified, but even though a loss of life occurred, the state cannot press charges for more than just a misdemeanor.

The family has issued a statement asking for the government "to change your laws so that irresponsible dog owners are held accountable for the negligent keep of their dogs." The media however has tried to make this into an appeal for controls on 'pit bulls' - however, there is nothing about the specific breed of dog quoted in the family's statment.

December 01, 2009

Eighty-five year old Rosie Humphries died yesterday in Flora, IL after she was attacked by a dog in her neighborhood. Ms. Humphries was out walking her dog when a neighbor's dog broke free from it chain and attacked the woman's dog, and her while she tried to keep the dog from her dog.

The dog is currently being described as a 'pit bull' by the media -- and reports are saying that the dog was chained up using a log chain -- and the dog broke free from its collar.

I'm not sure what type of person chains their dog up using a log chain -- but it wouldn't be all that surprising that it's the type of person who's dog ends up attacking an elderly woman. While it is no surprise that a handful of people who hate 'pit bulls' have cluttered up comments sections in the various media outlets, it is disheartening that so many seem to be missing -- likely intentionally - the obvious ownership issues in the case.

I'll post more on this if more details become available. My heart goes out to the family and friends of Ms Humphries, and hope that this case will lead to some appropriate action and education on what really should constitute the responsible keeping of a dog.

On Wednesday night, 53 year old Karen Gillespie, a retired librarian, went out for a walk to go take pictures of an old one-room school house in the area, but she never came home. When she wasn't home after dark, her husband called the authorities and her body was found the next morning. According to the official coroner's report, Gillespie died of head injuries suffered from a dog attack.

Authorities have found the dog they believe is responsible for the attack. The dog is owned by Howard Miller -- and this isn't the dog's first run-in with a biting incident.

This is obviously a horrible tragedy - -but what makes it even worse, in my mind, is that the dog was KNOWN to be aggressive and yet no restrictions were put on the dog or its owner. The attack was entirely preventable, but even basic steps were not taken to insure public safety. As Karen Delise of the National Canine Research Council likes to say, "a major act of violence by a dog is never its first sign of aggression, it is its last."

November 07, 2009

Sixteen month old Destiny Marie Knox is dead after being attacked by a dog. The information coming in about the story is spotty, at best, at this point, but here is what we think we know.

Destiny was supposedly staying at a babysitter's mobile home off County Road 87 just outside of New Ablany, MS. The dog was one of at least 5 'pit bulls' on the property that were always left chained up outside. However, the dog somehow slipped out of its collar as the family was bringing groceries into the house, got through the open door, and attacked the young toddler.

While the story itself is tragic, what may be more tragic is the reaction of the officials that were interviewed that are already taling about "legislation" and "dog laws". But none of that will fix the problem we have here.

New Albany, like much of Missisissippi, has a very high percentage of its population living below poverty level (Mississippi as a whole is nearly 20%, New Albany is just below that). And this isn't the first incident of a significant tragedy along this stretch of County road 87 outside of New Ablany. Eighteen months ago, a child was killed due to child abuse along the same county road. Also on the property, which happened to also be a puppy mill, were over 180 dogs -- many of which were also victims of cruelty.

While it is "easy" for officials to blame a particular breed of dog in this incident, it's much more difficult for them to acknowledge a larger social issue at play here -- one that is at play in many parts of the country. In pockets across the US, we have have groups of people who are low-income and poorly educated....and many of these areas suffer a lot from violence. It appears that this stretch of County Road 87 is no different. And while we can talk things like dog breeds, it is really a distraction from the much larger issue -- which is that as a part of the overall lack of education that comes in these poor areas, so follows the lack of education on how we should properly keep our pets. Chaining continues to show itself as a horrible way to keep a dog as its primary form of containment -- and often leads to other issues -- including, often, aggression -- especially among those it has not been socialized with (in this case, a toddler who was not a member of the home).

Until we start realizing tragedies like this for what they are, a small part of a larger social issue, we will never make any progress in solving the problem. Breed of dog does not matter...but how the dogs are cared for does.

My heart goes out to all of the families involved in this tragedy.

I'll post more updates as they become available. At this point, only the Tupelo Newspaper and two of the local Tupelo TV stations are covering the incident, so information is coming in pretty slowly.